BEAKED WHALES, FAMILY ZIPHIID^ TRUE. 31 



was in doubt as to its specific identity. I thouglit that it might represent Z. ger- 

 vaisii, which is interesting in the present connection because the tj^pe-specimen was 

 a female. 



In 1883 Dr. L. Stejneger described a species whicli he had discovered on Bering 

 Island, Bering Sea, under the name of Z. grehnitzkii. Through the instrumentality 

 of Doctor Stejneger and Governor Grebnitzki, tlie National Museum later received 

 a large series of skulls from the same locality. The question of whether this species 

 is identical with Z. cavirostris, or distinct, has caused me much study, and forms 

 the principal subject of this chapter. 



The National Museum has at present the following material, which may be 

 considered as certainly representing Z. cavirostris: 



1. A complete skeleton and cast of an adult female, 19 feet 4 inches long, 

 obtamed at Barnegat City, New Jersey, October 3, 1883. Cat. No. 20971. 



2. A complete skeleton and photographs of an adult male, 20 feet 1 inch long, 

 obtained at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1901, through Dr. E. A. Mearns, Mr. L. di Z. 

 Mearns, and Capt. Gus Soderman. Cat. No. 49599. 



3. The collection contains also the skeleton of the young female individual 

 obtained at Charleston, South Carolina, prior to 186.5, wliich constitutes the type of 

 Hy peroodon semijunctus Cope. It was originally in the Charleston College Museum, 

 but later was received by the National Museum in exchange. This individual was 

 between 12 and 13 feet long. Cat. No. 21975. 



In addition, the national collections contain the following material, known to, 

 or supposed to, represent the species Z. grehnitzkii: 



4. Cat. No. 20993. Skull of a male ( ?).« Collected by Dr. L. Stejneger in Bering 

 . 1521. Type of Ziphius grehnitzkii. 



Skull. Orig. No. 1758. 

 Skull. Orig. No. 2531. 

 Skull. Orig. No. 1849. 

 Skull of a male (n." ^ 



Skull. 



The five skulls preceding were also collected b}' Doctor Stejneger in Bering 

 Island in 1882 and 1883. 



10. Cat. No. 22069. Skull of a female (?)." 



11. Cat. No. 22874. Skull. 



12. Cat. No. 22875. Bones of an immature individual. 



These three specimens were collected and presented by N. Grebnitzki. 



13. Cat. No. 142579. A series of photographs of an indivitlual captured in 

 Kiska Harbor, Alaska, September, 1904. Presented by Dr. J. Hobart Egbert. 



14. Cat. No. 84906. Photograph of the skeleton of an individual washed ashore 

 at St. Simon Island, Georgia, in 1893, and belonging to Mr. W. Arnold. 



In the genus Ziphius, as in other ziphioid genera, a study of the characters of the 

 skull appears to afford the best basis for discrimination of species. We have first to 

 consider whether the North American species is the same as the European and New 



a As to reaBons for assigning sexes thus, see p. 55. 



